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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Four Eastern Kentucky University tennis players were named to the 2009 All-Ohio Valley Conference team while senior Alexandra Sitnikova was honored as the OVC Player of the Year Thursday as announced by the league office. Voting was handled by the conference’s head coaches.

Sitnikova, a native of Almaty, Kazakhstan, posted a 16-7 overall singles record this spring. She won all nine of her OVC matches at No. 1 singles, seven of which were decided in straight sets. Sitnikova, a 2008 All-OVC selection as well, is just the fourth Colonel ever to win this award.

Fellow senior Svetlana Pimenova and sophomore Myriem Mhirit were also named to the 2009 All-OVC first team. Pimenova, a three-time all-league honoree, has won four straight matches entering the OVC tournament and went 7-1 against conference competition. The native of St. Petersburg, Russia teamed up with Sitnikova to go 4-0 against OVC foes at No. 1 doubles.

Mhirit, hailing from Rabat, Morocco, put together a 14-match winning streak in the middle of the season playing anywhere between No. 2 to No. 5 singles. She finished the season playing No. 3 for the Colonels.

On the men’s side, sophomore Alex Das Izquierdo earned a spot on the All-OVC first team. The native of Valencia, Spain paced Eastern with 16 dual victories in 2009. His only loss in league action was a close three-set decision to the OVC Player of the Year, Dean O’Brien of Tennessee Tech. This is the fourth straight year the Colonels have placed a player on the all-conference first team.

Head coach Rob Oertel was honored as the men’s OVC Co-Coach of the Year. Oertel, now in his eighth season at EKU, won the award two years ago as well. This is the first time in Eastern Kentucky history that both the men and women went undefeated against OVC competition.

Both EKU tennis teams are in action this weekend as the top seeds at the 2009 OVC tennis championships in Paducah, Ky. The Colonel women take on No. 4 Jacksonville State or No. 5 Tennessee Tech in the semifinals Saturday at 11 a.m. Meanwhile, the Eastern men will play the winner of No. 4 Murray State and No. 5 Morehead State in the semifinals Saturday at 3 p.m.

The winners of the OVC tournament receive an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA tournament which begins on May 8.